The UCSB Swim Teams Show Their Tremendous Depth on the Second Day of the Big West Championship

Feb 18, 2010

Feb. 19, 2010

Long Beach, Calif. -
The UC Santa Barbara swimming teams continued competing at the second day of the 2010 Big West Championships at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach, Calif., Thursday.

Looking to recapture their Championship Titles, the Gauchos had a great day.

In the 500 freestyle, Emma Hunt touched first for UCSB coming in third place overall with a time of 4:56.76 Meagan Brown came in fifth with a time of 5:00.10, a personal best. Olivia Plume touched seventh with a time 5:03.16. Astrid Amsellem touched eighth with a time of 5:04.04.

The UCSB men also had a strong showing in the 500 freestyle with Scott Vogelgesang touching first with at time 4:25.74. This time qualifies him for the NCAA B-cut. Joe Plume touched next for the Gauchos with a fourth place finish and a time of 4:30.20.

In the 200 individual medley, Jessica Schwalb was the first to tap the wall for the Gauchos coming in fourth overall with a time of 2:03.23 for the women's team. Finishing right after her was freshman Emily Adamczyk at 2:04.55. Kelsey Lewis took 10th with a mark of 2:05.43 and Brittany Borowitz came in 14th with a time of 2:06.43. Last, but not least, was Mariana Prutton touching right after Borowitz with a time of 2:06.70 placing 16th. UCSB had the most swimmers in the top 16 spots in the event.

The 200 individual medley prelims for the men went just as well with five swimmers from Santa Barbara making the top 16. Senior Danny McClary touched third in the finals with a time of 1:48.54. his time qualifies for him NCAA B-cut standards. Fourth place went to Tim Freeman in a time of 1:50.03. Sophomore Evan Simoni touched in eighth place with a personal best of 1:52.04. Walt Gault rounded out the dominant Gaucho foursome with a 16th place finish and a time of 1:55.99.

The 50 freestyle was all UCSB. For the women's team, seven swimmers finished in the top 16 spots with senior captain and All-American Anne Marie May claiming her fourth consecutive title in this event with a time of 22.35. The time qualifies May for NCAA B-cut standards. Currently, May has the fourth fastest time in the nation in this event.

Kendall Kneely was the next Gaucho to whack the wall, coming in third with a time of 23.22; Naomi Javanifard came in fifth with a time of 23.35; freshman, Katie Stover placed sixth with a time of 23.45; coming in eighth was Sasza Loehry with a time of 23.66; Katie Tomkinson was next, coming in ninth with a personal best time of 23.78; next was Katie Ure who came in tenth with a time of 23.80; last and not least was senior Courtney Bauer, who came in 12th with a time of 23.91.

The men did just as well in the 50 freestyle with five Gauchos finishing in the top 16. Chris Peterson and Kevin Kuhn touched one-two with times of 19.98 and 20.12 and both receiving B-cut times for the NCAA.
The next swimmer for the Gauchos to touch the wall was sophomore Kevin Ferguson who came in fourth with a time of 20.43. Ryan Hanni was the next swimmer, placing fifth with a time of 20.53. At seventh place, Dan Morris hit the wall with a time of 20.64. The last swimmer for the Gauchos was Jon Kraetsch, placing tenth with a time of 20.81.

The women ended the day with a second place finish in the 400-medley relay thanks to Javanifard, Adamczyk, Ure and May coming in with a time of 3:44.19.

The men ended their day with a first place finish in the 400-medley relay with Ferguson, Freeman, McClary and Peterson coming in with a time 3:14.74. This time qualifies them for the NCAA B-cut.

The women's team is seated first with 336 points while the men's team is currently seated second with 313 points, trailing UC Davis by 65 points.